“There you go again!”
That phrase was uttered by Ronald Reagan in response to a gross exaggeration (if not outright falsehood) statement made by then President Jimmy Carter in their national presidential debate.
If ever that sentence was worth repeating it’s by The Vegas Voice directed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. It wouldn’t be the first time we accused (and that’s giving them the benefit of the doubt) the RJ of “copying” the efforts, work and investigation by our Vegas Voice columnists.
We could start with the RJ taking a bow for its exclusive investigation and reporting on guardianship reform. After initially taking full credit, it finally had to (sort of) fess up in its editorial that their efforts were “spurred by reporting in The Vegas Voice, a local monthly for seniors…”
And it must have been purely a coincidence that the RJ just happened to revise its front page banner of the Las Vegas skyline that looks amazingly similar to what our Vegas Voice president and graphics artist Ray Sarbacker did to our front page months earlier.
But now, they shamelessly did it again. In its June 12th Business Page edition, it had the audacity to claim sole credit regarding Governor Joe Lombardo signing the new Nevada Probate Law.
As the RJ announced:
“A Review-Journal investigation published last year found a group of private administrators, real estate agents, lawyers and house flippers had reaped paydays selling dead people’s homes…for years…without family participation.”
All we can say is that it must have been some hard-hitting intensive investigation. Perhaps such investigation included reading The Vegas Voice. Like our Vegas Voice Investigative Report written by our columnist Judy Polumbaum.
We published Judy’s 17 total pages of this issue/scandal in a five part series beginning in June and concluding in October, 2020. That’s four years BEFORE the RJ “uncovered” the problem.
I know what you’re thinking. The RJ had to dig deeper in spotlighting this scandal by “naming names.”
And as the newspaper proudly boasted: The Review-Journal found that two of the most prolific private administrators of the past decade, Thomas G. Moore and his probate successor Cynthia “Cyndi” Sauerland were involved…
If only the RJ would have read (or remembered) Judy’s initial article. Her third paragraph alone cites Moore’s name. And a few paragraph later, we listed the amount of claims he filed between 2014-2019.
Some investigative work indeed.
Now I know that my outrage and accusation against the mighty RJ is like David vs. Goliath (and we don’t even have a sling-shot) but if the “truth” still matters, credit should be given where credit is due.
And for that, the RJ should (even grudgingly, like it did in its guardianship editorial) toss The Vegas Voice a “few kudos.” RJ Publisher/Editor Keith Moyer, Executive Editor & Senior Vice President/News Glenn Cook and business reporter Eli Siegel know better.
I’m reminded of another quote. This one from President Harry Truman: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” We agree.
The Vegas Voice hopes the RJ wins all type of awards, perhaps even a Pulitzer for their reporting. After all, The Vegas Voice (and columnist Judy Polumbaum) won such national award for our Probate Investigation by the North American Mature Publishers Association.
NAMPA is the largest and most prestigious senior publication trade association in the United States. The award is still hanging in our office, although it might be a little faded. After all, we won it in 2020.
One more thing. Sen. Melanie Scheible, (D-Las Vegas) chair of the Judiciary Committee claimed that she was not aware of the issues in probate court until she read the Review-Journal’s coverage.
If only she read The Vegas Voice.
At least she would have an idea as to what is going on concerning the ever growing Age 50+ senior population in Southern Nevada. Or perhaps she does read our publication but stops after reading our Bill Caserta “Bill’s Blurbs” jokes on page 6.
Will Rogers, the humorous social commentator famously claimed, “If you don’t blow your own horn, someone else will use it as a spittoon.”
Rest assured this publisher will not allow the RJ to use The Vegas Voice as its spittoon without being called out. And it will remain my job to keep it shiny and clean.
After all, you never know when the Las Vegas Review Journal will need to visit us again after The Vegas Voice uncovers and investigates another senior issue.
